"Weakened body" - a prototype meter of Butoh "I was trying to make a prototype meter of Butoh of the "Weakened
body".
It is necessary to my butoh such as extremely weakened body against modern
and traditional human body." ( Lecture in Kobe, 1983)
Three years before his death, Hijikata told.

He continued to explore it in his important work, "Sick Dancing Princess",
started writing from 1976 till his death.
"Though, there is 'the health illusion' in our contemporary society,
but I needed to explore an opposite direction against that."

Modern people are held trapped by that 'healthy human image' as a prototype
meter, He tried to crush it, and to create completely reversed sense of
values.

Why such a thing is needed?
A volume of "Sick Dancing Princess" is the answer.
Tatsumi Hijikata explored it in the work after he was banned to create
his butoh pieces based on his studio Asbest-Kan by opposition of resident
people, 1976.
It is the treasure source of unexplored butoh of him based on the method
of weakened body.
We are about to enter into the opposite world against the modern human
world slowly.
Now I am trying to convert from the book to some novel butoh scores for
the weakened body.
Wait for a while.

When we see the video clips of Hijikata's weakened body butoh, "A
girl" and "Hosotan", we can catch only random sways which
is shivering into various directions. It was the same for me for long years,
too.

But, I was attracted by it deeply, though I did not know the reason why.

It was a deep mystery for me for long time.

The mystery guided me to study his butoh with his butoh score.

Through the researching of his butoh score by body, slowly we can find
so rich and delicate contents of it.

Today, a long term student Ikuko picked up the related parts to shivering
from the score as the following.

A fine spider’s thread which runs on the forehead

When I rubbed a mirror, there was a swaying shadow of flower

A fragile sound collapsed in a storage barn

Bird's fear and bug's fear

The dizziness, shivering and swaying of flowers

A mescaline injection is given at a fingertip

A shout and a girl--shivering before collapsing

Bugs attach to the hand of senile Raka

I pick a flower on the road by attacked from behind and inside.

Shivewring, the ripples are spreading on the floor and in the sky.

24 (Shivering)

When I rubbed a mirror, there was a swaying shadow of flower.

1. The extreme dirtiness of the stuff enduring

2. A waltz of cow and tree is shivering

3. When I rubbed a mirror, there was a swaying shadow of a flower from behind.

4. Shivering

5. Picking flowers on the road--walking blind--dog

6. Spoon--an old lady

7. Shivering

8. Flowers and small faces are hung on the lattice of the squared paper

9. Shivering

10 On the floor and in the sky, too

We repeated reading of these texts by bodies , then slowly our bodies could
felt the differences of the shivering. And it became clear what he said
at No. 13 paragraph.

"The shivering---The forms are independent".

It meant that there are various kinds of shivering, and he could distinguish
the difference of each shivering.
There appers so ricihness of subtle life resonance in front of us.

I can hear his voice, " Stop your thinking and listen in your life,
also you can find that your life is shivering as the same as this.Isn't it?"
When we can open more delicate sensitivity, it is able to catch these infinite
deverse swaying of life. It is more tasty, than the so called beautiful
great movement of gross body.

Through these practice, it will become able for everybody to get the weakened
body technique.

I recommend it strongly. You can get the infinite richness and depth of
the weakened body butoh.

Weakened bodies of students for ten years
Weakened body is the most basic body of butoh.
Modern human body is too strong to resonate together. Its ego and self
is too strong and disturb to be life. We need to take off all condition
of the human and become weakened body. Then we can resonate with all kind
of life; one celled creature, plants, bug, fish, ameba, collapsed, disabled,
near death bodies.
Life is resonating together beyond all kinds of border which modern human
is bound.
Life is resonating with all kind of qualia; memories, dreams, imaginations,
illusions, emotions, beyond time and space.
We need to learn how to stop thinking, breath of life, and vaporized thecnique
to become the weakened body.